Twenty Five-Love is in the Air
AN: Thanks to my beta Ambiguity.
Also thanks to everyone who has signed up for my story-alert, favorite story and favorite author. I really do appreciate it ;-)
A few days later, Severus was once again standing opposite Potter in the Great Hall for their last indoor practice. That time, McGonagall stayed nearby to make sure there were no issues. Severus was still grouped with Camilla, Avery, Potter, Pettigrew, Frank and Alice. New initiates to the 'advanced' training were Black and Mulciber. On that day, their assignment was to Apparate to the other side of the Hall, then immediately to the center, and then back to where they had started. The entire event should take no longer than five seconds, and to ensure no one Apparated onto anyone, they were going to go one at a time.
Severus was up first. He Apparated across the hall, then to the center, but did not make it back where he started. Instead he ended up about twenty feet shy.
"That was good; you'll try again, Mr. Snape. Mr. Avery, you are next," McGonagall said as Severus stood at the back of the line. Avery did it perfectly, as did Camilla. Unfortunately for Severus, Potter did it correctly on his first try too. At least Frank's try was similar to Severus's and Pettigrew missed by at least forty feet. On Severus's second try, he got it perfectly right, as did everyone but Alice, who missed only by about ten feet or so.
Despite Lily's life being in turmoil, she seemed to do all of the practice exercises perfectly. Each time she Apparated properly, Potter would clap and cheer for her. On her third try, he patted her on the back and she smiled at him, which made Severus's blood boil.
On their way back to his common room, he and Camilla were talking about how Rosier should never get his license. Severus did not notice straight away that Potter and Black were walking right behind them.
"So did I tell you, Sirius, that Snivels-Banshee here somehow got a ghost to spy on me, because he's so in love with me," Potter said, loudly enough for Severus and Camilla to hear.
"Why no, James, how did he get a ghost to spy on you?" Black asked with a laugh. Both Severus and Camilla stopped and turned to face the annoying Gryffindors.
"He went to the girly-loo and somehow flirted with the ghost and then set her to spy on me!"
"Well, it's probably because you have such a luscious ass, James," Black said, cupping Potter's butt and laughing.
"And they call me gay?" Severus said as Camilla laughed. As soon as she laughed, Severus saw a flash go off. All four looked over at the Hufflepuff who had snapped the picture of the four of them.
"Great shot! Thanks, guys!" he said running off as fast as he could.
"Oh, that's just lovely, the two poofs here cupping each other and you and I laughing, caught on camera for posterity, just grand!" Camilla laughed, grabbing Severus by the arm and leading him away. "Let's go!"
Severus and Camilla continued towards the dungeon as Potter and Black just laughed it off and headed in the other direction.
"The nerve, thinking you sent a ghost to spy on them," Camilla said with a giggle.
"Shame it's true," Severus said with a slight smile and a raised brow. She cracked up as they continued their walk. "It's true."
"What? WHY?"
"It's a long story, but Moaning Myrtle is good to have around in a pinch."
"Oh my God, you used her? You must be desperate, she's insane!"
"She is, but it's okay. I don't mind-- poor thing is lonely, quite sad really."
"I guess; she gets on my nerves with her fuckin' crying," Camilla said, as the use of profanity made Severus smile and bow to her as he stood in front of her door. "Good day, Snape."
"Good day, Diggory."
---
Valentine's Day was the bane of Severus Snape's existence and most everyone knew it. Camilla and his roommates in particular, along with Regulus, knew that he hated it and avoided it like the plague. Which was probably why they decided to sabotage him that year. Things started off okay until he walked into his Arithmancy class. Camilla sat with her face redder than usual. As soon as he sat down, he glanced over to realize she was stifling her laughter.
"What's wrong?" he asked as she laughed further.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Sev!" she said, un-shrinking three pink heart-shaped balloons attached to red string.
"You are fucking joking?"
"Nope! The look on your face, man!" she said, cracking up.
"I won't carry those around, you're mad!"
"Yes, you will!"
"No, I won't!"
"Yes, you will!"
"Says who?"
"Me and Moaning Myrtle. If you don't carry these around, all day, I will tell everyone that you secretly hang out in the haunted girls' loo having ghosts do your bidding!"
"You bitch!" he squealed. That woman was evil to the core; what did he ever do to her?
"I am, and these are for you!" she nearly shouted, handing him the balloons. "Don't let me catch you walking around without them!"
"I'm going to get you for this!"
"Sure, but not today."
After Arithmancy, he collected his balloons and grudgingly carried them through the corridors. What did he ever do to her? Even more so, how would he get her back?
"Hey Sev, happy Valentine's," Ophelia said, passing him in the corridor. She handed him a dozen pink roses and a stuffed red puffskein. He nearly vomited.
"You're in on this too?" he asked.
"She said to give those to you and make you carry them or she'd tell some lie about you to everyone and everyone would believe it…so, I'm helping you out, actually. Bye!" she said running off. Naturally, everyone was beginning to notice he was carrying flowers, balloons and a stuffed animal. He only had a few hours left to plan some revenge, but he was too busy dodging the insults. On his way later to Transfiguration. Avery pulled him aside.
"Look, man, I'm supposed to give you this shit and force you to carry it, or Camilla is going to make up some rumor about you fucking that ghost in the haunted loo or some shit. I have no fuckin' clue. What I do know is I don't want to get caught handing you this box of chocolates, so, here," he said, covertly passing the heart-shaped box to Severus, who was fuming by this point.
He sat in the back of the room and was not the only one sporting treats. Most all of the girls had at least one flower, and even some of the boys had a balloon or two. He had three balloons, a box of chocolates, a stuffed puffskein that actually purred, and a dozen stinky roses.
"Good morning, today we are going to…my Lord, what is that?" McGonagall asked, staring right at Severus, who was as red as a beet. "Oh my, well, umm…as I was saying…" she pressed on as he hid his face in his hands. He wanted to die. But not before he got some kind of revenge on Camilla Diggory. He didn't bother going to lunch, but on his way to Charms he got another gift, that time from Regulus.
"Sev, I'm so sorry, but Camilla said if I didn't give this to you, she'd make up some rumor about me or something, so here…take it….please!" Regulus said in an embarrassed tone. He handed Severus a large pink teddy bear. It was a very large bear --probably four feet tall and three feet wide. Severus's first thought was to shrink it down, but before he could cast the spell, Regulus warned him. "She said it's charmed to not shrink and if you don't carry it she'll do something to you, man, something bad!"
"Whatever, I'm going to turn her into a cockroach!" Severus sneered as he yanked the bear from Regulus and continued on his way to Charms. He stormed into the classroom and took his seat in the back. He placed the bear in the vacant seat next to him and was too irate to think of a good way to get back at her.
"Someone loves Snivellus, he must have dropped some love potions in someone's pumpkin juice," Black turned back to mock. Severus met his gaze and then watched as Lily came into the room. She was carrying a dozen pink roses and a few balloons as well. He didn't pretend to not notice Potter swooning over her as she walked into the room.
On his way to his next class, the blasted photographer captured a shot of him with all his Valentine's goods. At least the day was nearly done. He was happy to make it to Potions because it was the last class of the day. Everyone in the room had at least one rose; some had more, everyone except Pettigrew who had nothing. Severus was embarrassed and angry, but at least he was not in the same boat as Pettigrew.
"Well, you are quite the popular one today, aren't you?" Slughorn asked as he walked into the classroom and noticed all of Severus's prizes. "Okay, let's get to work, everyone; the day is not quite over yet."
---
When Severus entered his common room, most everyone was seated around the fire place, including Camilla, who was smiling very proudly. He walked over to the fire place and threw all of his gifts into the roaring fire, including the massive bear. He didn't care that the roses popped in the fire or that the bear melted, causing a terrible stench to fill the room. He then brandished his wand with no solid plans of what hex he was going to use, but within an instant his wand went flying from his hand. She had the nerve to disarm him!
"Don't you even think of hexing me, Severus Snape! Need I remind you I'm a Prefect!" she spoke with a large smile and evil twinkle in her eye. He glared at her for a moment before turning to get his wand. He walked past her and right into his room. Of course, about twenty seconds later she showed up in his room. Her hands were behind her back and she had a little-girl look on her face.
"Why did you do that?" he angrily asked.
"What? The joke? Because it's funny, for starters!"
"It was evil! What did I ever do to you?"
"Nothing!" she shot back before sitting down on his bed. "I…I thought it'd make you laugh."
"I hate Valentine's Day, you know that; I believe you hate it too!"
"Well, yes and no. I think it's pretty dumb, but it's a good day to play pranks on people."
"No, it was not funny," he said, pulling his knees up to his chest. "Not at all."
"Oh, lighten up, Sev. You act like a forty-year-old, chill out!"
"No, that was evil, Camilla, evil!"
"You didn't have to do it!" she said, beginning to show signs of annoyance.
"You said you'd tell everyone that I talk to ghosts in the girl's loo!"
"Yeah, well, you do! Is it so bad? Do you really think I'd done that anyway? Wow, you really think I'd have gone and told everyone, don't you?"
"Yes."
"Why? Am I that evil?"
"Obviously," he said in a cold and calculating tone.
"I just wanted a laugh and I thought you'd think it's funny."
"I hate attention, Camilla; why would I think it's funny?"
"I…I don't know," she said, looking down at the floor. She brought her arms out from behind her back and was holding one of the pink roses that did not land in the fire. "I guess I was mad at Simon and just needed some cheering up."
"That's fucked up, I'm not Simon!"
"You're his friend!"
"Whatever, fuck this," he said, rising quickly and leaving the room.
He had a special assignment in Herbology and was to meet in the greenhouses at seven anyway. He got there early and began to prune his bonsai tree. He liked the new Herbology Professor, Professor Sprout, but he thought her wanting them to prune bonsai trees was a dumb task. It was not a magical plant. She foolishly thought the soothing appearance of the tree would aid in people's recoveries at hospitals. She did seem a bit 'earthy' to him and that just proved it.
He was alone in the greenhouse until around seven, when Frank, Alice and the six other N.E.W.T. level students arrived. He was still very angry and shocked that Camilla would do that to him. Why would he find that whole debacle funny? It seemed turning her to a cockroach would not suffice, he'd just have to ignore her instead.
He just trimmed his bonsai tree and ignored the others as they chit-chatted amongst themselves, until Ophelia came into the room. When was his hell going to end?
"Sev, what's that?" she asked, pointing at the tree.
"It's a Japanese bonsai tree; what do you want?"
"Oh…what does it do?" she asked, which annoyed him, but she had proved to be a sensitive person, so telling her to just leave would not do.
"Nothing, it just looks nice," he said, still pruning and not looking at the younger witch or anyone else in the room.
"Why prune it then?"
"Shh!" Alice said harshly. Ophelia looked over at the not so attractive and witch.
"I prune it," Severus said, harshly staring at Alice, "because that's what our teacher wishes us to do."
"But, it's not a magical plant?" Ophelia asked.
"Nope."
"That's stupid!"
"It is," Severus acknowledged. Alice and Frank were rolling their eyes and beginning to mumble amongst themselves.
"What do you want?" Severus asked, finally looking at the younger witch.
"She sent me to see if you are still mad."
"I am," he said, beginning to prune more rapidly.
"She asked me to tell you that…she's sorry and wants to know when you'll be done here?"
"Snivels, tell your owl to shut up, I'm trying to concentrate!" Alice sneered, which angered Severus and Ophelia alike.
"Shut up, Diggory! Mind your own business!" Severus spoke to Alice angrily before turning to face Ophelia. "Tell Camilla her cousin is almost as annoying as she is and I'll probably be here until nine."
"Okay," she said sounding a bit sad. He really was not in the mood to deal with irrational girls or their feelings at the moment. "But, I really am not an owl."
"I know you are not an owl, only an ignorant fool would think you an owl," he said, staring right at Alice's puffy and pouty face.
"Shut up, Snivellus!" Alice shouted.
"Shh honey, don't bother talking to him or getting upset by him. We'll be Aurors soon and they'll be taken care of," Frank interrupted as he held his girlfriend's hand.
"They? Who's they?" Ophelia asked with a lot of attitude in her voice.
"You lot, you nasty little Slytherins, a House of Death Eaters, that's who!"
"Longbottom, you are such a prejudiced and poorly informed asshole, you know that?" Severus sneered.
"He is no such thing! The whole wizarding world knows that bad witches and wizards come from your House! You are a shining example of typical Slytherin evil anyway!" Alice shouted. When she shouted, he became angry and gripped onto his sheers a bit too hard, slicing through the thin and fragile trunk of his bonsai tree. He watched as it just fell over onto the table. Everyone in the room laughed, except Severus and Ophelia. He dropped his sheers, removed his gloves, grabbed his bag and stormed out with Ophelia in tow.
"I'm sorry, can you repair it?" she asked.
"No, only a very skilled Herbologist could repair the severed trunk of a tree and since it's not a magical plant, I'm not sure anything could fix it.",
"Will you fail now?"
"No, just the assignment. I imagine I can do some extra credit or something," he said and sighed, hoping that he would have the opportunity to raise his grade.
"What's an Auror?"
"Dark wizard chaser."
"They really think we're all dark?"
"Yes Ophelia, they do and they are wrong," he fibbed, knowing full well all of the boys in his year were budding Death Eaters. Suddenly, she grabbed his outer school robes and pulled him down a different corridor with her as if she were hiding from someone. "What?"
"Shh!" she said peeking her head around the corner. "Him!" she said, pointing at Quirinus Quirrell.
"Why are you avoiding him?"
"I gave him a Valentine today and he's given me nothing!" she said, stomping her foot on the stone floor.
"So, Camilla used to give them to me and I never gave them back…"
"And then today she pulled a prank on you! See, we never forget! I don't want to have to hex him, but I will!" she spoke and stomped her feet again.
"Oh hell," he miffed, only then realizing just how long Camilla's memory was. Severus could not just sit back and watch on as Quirrell made the same mistake he had. "Well, you know Ophelia, the day isn't over yet! If I were you, I'd maybe go back to the common room now. I have to get something from the library and I'll be back there in a few minutes." He watched as she walked away and took the stairs down to the dungeon. He had to save Quirrell, a kid he didn't even know, from making a horrible mistake.
"Hey, Quirrell, over here!" Severus said, as the confused boy looked around and then slowly approached Severus.
"Ye...Yea…Yesss Ssseverr…"
"Yeah, yeah…did Ophelia give you a Valentine earlier today?" he asked impatiently.
"Um…y…ye…yeee,"
"Good, did you give her one back?" he asked as the boy just looked at him blankly.
"Nnn…no, am I supp…suppp….supposed too?"
"YES! Listen to me carefully! When a girl gives you a Valentine, you give her one back or her revenge will be severe!"
"Get away from him, Snape," Alice said walking up right behind Quirrell. "Is he bothering you?"
"N…nooo! He just told me tt…tt…to send Ophelia a Valentine!"
"Who? That Slytherin scum brat who was talking to you in the greenhouse just now?" Frank mocked to Severus. Severus glared at him as he just smiled back. "Don't tell members of our fine House to sully themselves by forcing them to talk to members of your evil and disgusting House!"
"This has nothing to do with you, Longbottom!" Severus fumed as he walked off and hoped that Quirrell kid took his advice. He went back to his common room, happy to see Camilla was no where in sight. He curled up near the fire and continued to read his book. About ten minutes later, Simon came into the room carrying a red piece of parchment.
"Oy Snape, where's the Olga girl?"
"Ophelia, you mean?"
"Yeah, some weird kid asked me to give this to her." Out of nowhere, Ophelia appeared and nearly tore the parchment from Simon's hand. She opened it, read it and then smiled, jumped up and down and ran back inside her own room. "Well, that was simple."
Severus assumed that Quirrell had taken his advice and all was well. She was happy and the boy was protected from her revenge. He'd done a good job despite being so angered.
---
The next day, Severus was walking the corridors on his way to his classes. He'd still not seen or spoken to Camilla, but had to sit next to her in Arithmancy. He decided it was best to just not press the issue and act as if nothing ever happened. He'd not be all buddy-buddy with her, but he'd not hex or cuss her out either. While he headed up the stairs, Quirrell was headed down them.
"Did shh...she get the Val…Val…"
"Yes," Severus interrupted. That poor kid needed to do something about that stutter. "Thank you, you did the right thing, Quirrell."
"But I don't really llllike her and I ddddon't want he…he…her to think I d…do!"
"It's okay if you don't like her, so long as you returned the Valentine, that's all that matters, ouch!" Severus nearly yelped as he felt a hard kick to the back of his leg. When he turned, he saw the familiar blonde and curly locks that belonged to Ophelia as she raced down the corridor in the opposite direction.
"Bbbetter you than me!" Quirrell nervously said as he continued down the stairs to his Potions class. Severus entered the Arithmancy classroom and ignored Frank and Alice as he took his seat in the back near Camilla.
"Hi," she said in a nervous tone.
"Hey," he said, bringing his book right up to his nose so he could read it. He felt bad that Ophelia had heard their conversation. But that was all irrational kid crap and, as a Death Eater, he really wasn't going to waste too much time worrying about it. So a twelve year old girl in his House was pissed off at him; there were worse things that could happen in life.
He was embarrassed in Herbology when he handed over a stump to Professor Sprout ,who just eyed him curiously.
"What happened, Mr. Snape?"
"Sort of had a little accident, I guess," he muttered with his head held low.
"I see! Well, this is…um…not good work."
"Can I try another one?" he asked as Alice and Frank rolled their eyes.
"Why should he get a second chance, Professor?" Frank asked, without even holding up his hand.
"Well, normally I would, dear, but I don't have any spares, I'm afraid. You can do some extra credit if you like."
"Sure."
"See me after class, Mr. Snape," she said with a smile. After class, he saw her about his extra credit. As he suspected, the extra credit would not be easy. He was to find a native water plant, collect it and bring it back to the greenhouse. Then he was to re-create the proper environment for the water plant to live in and grow inside the greenhouse. It was going to be a very difficult assignment.
As he was on his way to Potions, the rest of his House mates were heading towards the common room. Camilla ran towards him and stopped him from entering the classroom.
"What?"
"She's upset," Camilla said as Severus rolled his eyes.
"Oh God, now what?"
"Did you make some boy give her a Valentine?"
"That's what she wanted!" he groaned.
"No! She did not! She wanted him to give her one back if he liked her, she didn't want you to force it!"
"Oh, for fuck sakes! You women, you are all insane! In-fucking-sane!" he shrieked as most of the Potions students heard what he was saying from the doorway. "Leave me alone, all of you! Nothing but irrational, over-emotional, vengeful…assholes!"
"Geez man, calm down!" Camilla said defensively.
"No, no way. Women have been fucking with me since I was three and I'm sick of it! I'm sick of my mother, I'm sick of Lily, I'm sick of you, and I'm really sick of her!" he shouted noticing Ophelia was standing a few feet from Camilla. Camilla looked angry and turned to walk off. Ophelia looked sad, but he did not care. Simon and Avery walked over to see what was wrong.
"Man, what was that?" Avery said as the bell rang for Severus's class to begin.
"I never thought I'd say this, but I swear to Merlin…women are good for one thing and one thing only!" Severus jabbered as both Simon and Avery laughed.
"Only took him seventeen years to figure that one out!" Avery said, patting Severus on the back, while Severus rolled his eyes and sat down to brew some Potions.